Improving health for sexual and gender minorities

Menu

Lesbians Have Lower Rates of Cancer Screening, Higher Risks

An analysis comparing gay/lesbian and bisexual survey respondents in Massachusetts to heterosexual counterparts found that gays, lesbians and bisexuals were more than twice as likely to be current smokers (Gay/lesbian OR=2.33, Gay men OR=2.42, Lesbian OR=2.20; Bisexual OR=2.65, Bisexual men OR=2.03, Bisexual women OR=3.00).

For Further Thought

As a probability study, the findings of this study are arguably generalizeable to the adult population of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Would you expect to find similar LGB smoking disparities in your state? How might the social, political and legal context of Massachusetts impact the observed magnitude of LGB disparities?

Bisexual respondents, and bisexual women in particular, appear to be at the greatest risk for current smoking. What factors might put bisexuals at greater risk?